Baked Brie en Croute with Honeyed Almonds, Cherries and Thyme

Holiday entertaining just got a little more delicious with this easy and elegant Baked Brie en Croute with Honeyed Almonds, Cherries and Thyme.

This post is sponsored on behalf of The National Honey Board. As always all opinions are my own and thanks for supporting brands that I work with.

If there’s one food I could live off of it would be cheese. . and possibly chocolate but I hit my limit pretty quickly with chocolate. Cheese. . not so much.

Can you think of a more perfect food than cheese? Especially hot, gooey, melty cheese all wrapped up in puff pastry, dripping with honey, nuts and fruit?

Hungry yet?

That’s what I thought! Between all the holiday entertaining that goes around in the month of the December it’s important to have an easy, elegant yet show stopping appetizer in your back pocket. Friends, I’ve have it for you today.

I doubt none of you are strangers to baked brie en croute aka the fancy way to say baked brie in puff pastry.

There’s no right or wrong way to make a baked brie, you can top it with whatever jam, nuts or herbs you may have laying around but sometimes it’s just to put a little bit of extra effort in.

It’s the holiday season, we can get dressed up. Which is exactly what I’ve done here.

Instead of store bought jam, I went ahead and reduced some frozen cherries – fresh if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on some into a thick compote flavored with a touch of almond extract.

Our cherries and brie get wrapped up in puff pastry, baked until golden brown and then topped with thyme scented honeyed almonds and of course more honey to finish because you can never go wrong with honey and cheese.

Let’s talk about those honeyed almonds for second, okay?

Topping our brie with these nuts just make our appetizer a complete flavor bomb with crunchy, sweet, salty and tart and they couldn’t be easier to put together.

Honey gives those almonds that gorgeous amber color, it’s ideal for browning, glazing and in this case replacing the traditional sweetener used to candy our almonds. A little bit goes a long way in flavor and gives the nuts a beautiful, sticky sheen once they firm up.

I promise you this – as soon as you walk out with this baked brie, there will be oohs and ahhs from the crowd. I know, I’ve baked this up three times already and it’s the perfect way to kick off your holiday season or just a simple dinner party at home.

In fact, that’s exactly the plan we have outlined here for you below! I hope you’ll join in our virtual dinner party and be sure to invite the honey lovers to the table! I’ve also uploaded a shopping list that you can download (just right click the photo to save) for one easy shopping list!

Place the cherries, water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce down to a simmer and cook until thick about 5-10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Trim the top rind off the brie and set aside.

Place the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll out slightly.

Add about 1/4 cup of the cherry compote to the center of the puff pastry and place the brie, trimmed side down on top of the cherry.

Fold up the sides of the puff pastry around the brie, trimming the excess if desired, if not, just wrap all around and flip over.

Place in the the refrigerator to chill down for about 10 minutes.

Place the chilled puff pastry on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden brown all over.

While the puff pastry is baking prepare the honeyed almonds by toasting the almonds lightly in a dry skillet over medium heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute, shaking the pan often and then drizzling in the 2 tablespoons of honey plus 2 tablespoons of water. Make sure the honey completely coats the almonds and cook until the water has evaporated. About 1 minute. Stir in the thyme and season with flaky sea salt. If desired you can add a bit of spice and season with a small amount of cayenne pepper. Set aside.

Once the puff pastry comes out of the oven, place on a platter and top with the honeyed almonds and finish with a drizzle of honey on top.